Wichita eagle., 1887-11-29
InWhich Several Persons are Killed
and Others More or Less
Fatally Injured.
The Gerster Concert Tour Throughout tht
United States Again Postponed
on Account Of Sickness.
The Herr Most Trial in New York Coming
to Cl0se-0ther Items OF
Interest.
GOfLER EXPLOSION.
The ooiler in a Hotel ExplOdeS With Seri
GUS Effect.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. Nov. 2S.-A shocking
accident occurred at the Kirby house
shortly before o'clock this morning. A
boiler used for heating water exploded,
entirely wrecking the rear end OF the
building, burying number Of people be-
meath the ruinh fatally wounding several
and, it is feareu, killing others outright.
The explosion occurred at $50. The boiler,
which was exploded, was the hot water
boiler behind the kitchen range. The ex-
plosion blew out a portion of the rear
wall of the building thirty feet in width,
extending from the ground TO the floor OF
the fourth story One end of the
dining room was wrecked, all
the tables being knocked over
and the dishes smashed. Most of the
guests had finished breakfast Among
those who remained panic reigned, but
as far as known some of the guests were
hurt. The kitchen of the hotel was com
pleteIy wrecked There were about a
dozen girls in the room at the time and all
were buried beneath the mass Of brick and
morta~,
The lire department was on the scene
within minute after the explosion. The
following girls were taken out OF the ruins
badly injured: Miss Anna Kennedy,
assistant cook; Miss Carrie Olson, dining
room girl; Miss Nora Dougherity, dining
room girl; Miss Mary Arbuckle, pastry
cook, Miss Maggie Deran, kitchen girl;
Miss Alice Burke, pantry girl; Miss Mary
Kroeger, kitchen girl. All were so badly
injured, mostly by bruises, that DR.. Marks
l. Ill a
live or not. Frank Hempel, the head cook,
is missing, also Mrs. Emma Gage, assist
ant cook The ruins are being searched in
hope of finding the others who may be
buried therein. Miss Minnie
Thompson, a girl employed in the
Sentinel bindery across the
alley was badly cut about the head by the
flying glass that was blown in by the ex-
plosiOn. Mr. Beckwith, one Of the pro-
prietors of the hotel, who was in the rear
part of the building near where the eXplOs-
ion took place, was hit on the head by fly
ing missiles which knocked him down. He
is able TO be about. The alley back of the
hotel is piled to depth of four or five feet
with debris from the wrecked building
The north wall Of the dining room was
blown in for distance of fifteen or twenty
feet. The firemen got water upon the ruins
In time to eXtinguiSh the flames before
they had gained much Roadway. The ac-
cident was probably caused by the freezing
of the feed pipe supplying the boiler
with water Those whose injuries are the
most serious, are: Mary Arbuckle, Orma
Kennedy and Carrie Olsen, all of whom
are terribly burned in addition to the
bruises which they received. There is no
hope that Carrie Olson will recover.
Miss Mary Lesby, chamber maid; Miss
Miss Eva Frederickson, DINING room girl,
were also hurt. At II o'clock, the firemen
found the dead body of Mrs. F. Gage, the
assistant cook, under the ruins. 1t was
shockingly mangled. Frank Hempel the
head cook, who was at first reported killed,
escaped alive but is badly hurt; one arm
and three ribs are broken, and he is badly
injured about the head